Without taking Rahul Dravid’s name, chairman of selectors Krishnamachari Srikkanth made it clear that ODI squad was selected keeping the English conditions in mind.
Most of the younger Indian batsmen have been found wanting in seaming and bouncy conditions where Dravid stood out with back-to-back tons which prompted his recall after nearly two years.
“We have selected the team on basis of the conditions in England. We have selected the team after a lot of deliberation and I am sure it is a very good side,” Srikanth told reporters after announcing the squad.
Srikkanth termed Yuvraj Singh’s injury as an “unfortunate” one and something about which little could be done.
“Yuvraj Singh is one of our main players but unfortunately when you have a fracture in the finger, you cannot do anything about it,” he said.
He made no bones about the fact that both Yuvraj and Harbhajan Singh, who was not considered for his Grade I abdominal tear, will have to do a complete rehabilitation before being considered for national selection.
“They are coming back. They will have to undergo rehab at NCA. So with regard to all those people, we will have to cross the bridge only when they prove their fitness. Yuvraj has got fracture so obviously it will take that bit of time for him to recuperate.”
On Indian team’s disastrous show in the ongoing Test series, the chairman feels that the team would make a strong comeback.
“There are times when team undergoes through tough phase and this particular series has been one like that. We lost the first two Test matches, but I am confident of a string comeback by the boys,” he said.
The chairman said there have been situations like this in past but team has fought back very strongly.
“During South Africa series, we lost the first Test badly and then we came back strongly and won the second Test match and almost won the series,” the former India captain tried to put up a brave front.
Srikkanth feels that the return of Zaheer Khan and Virender Sehwag will bolster the side ahead of the third Test.
“Don’t forget we have Virender Sehwag back in the team, we have (Gautam) Gambhir and Zaheer coming back in the team. So I think the experience of Sehwag, Gambhir and Zaheer will help us to fight back strongly and do well in the next two Test matches,” he said.
“There are times when best of the teams also go through tough times. I mean it happens and you need to accept it very gracefully. I don’t want to give any excuses, let us accept the fact that England played better than India in the first two Test matches and move on, rather than complaining we could have done this or done that,” the chairman added.
